


Free at last

by Querulousgawks



Category: Veronica Mars (TV), Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, Domestic Violence, Father-Son Relationship, Frenemies, Gen, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-16 13:52:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2272200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Querulousgawks/pseuds/Querulousgawks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Logan and Weevil and fire go a long way back. A flashback scene interrupts their Season 2 meeting in the Neptune Grand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Free at last

**Author's Note:**

> Many, many thanks to elschaaf and BryroseA for proofreading this. All errors are my own.

_Plan in place, deal done: time for him to get out of the Grand. But Logan is still standing between him and the door, flipping that lighter through his fingers. Weevil's never given a shit what Echolls is thinking and he isn't going to start now, but he's got a feeling it's a memory, the same one he has._  

It was before his parents left. 

Back when his grandma's job was extra cash, a chance to get out of the house, and not a lifeline with too many people hanging on it. That summer he would come with her whenever the gardener had day jobs, and hang out, if there was time afterwards, in the space and quiet of the perfectly manicured side lawn nobody ever seemed to use. 

He’d been hauling a tangle of weird, shabby lawn tools – the kind that seemed to grow in ignored corners even, apparently, in millionaire houses–out of a tumbledown shed that was getting razed. Well – the gardenercalled it a shed. It looked more like a barn in an old western, to Eli, with a dusty open front and little cubbies behind a half divider in the back. He’d just pulled a –was that a  _harness?_ \- from a nest of weedwhacker line when the door slammed open and Logan Echolls skidded inside.

“Get out,” Echolls snapped and Eli leaned back, unsurprised. They stayed away from each other in school, mostly, but everything he saw from a distance suggested ‘jackass,’ and it was satisfying to be proven right. “Seriously, my dad’s coming.”

“I'm doing my job. And I'm not scared of your daddy, Echolls. I don't have a surfboard to take away, remember?”

Logan's eyes were moving fast, looking for exits like one would just appear if he stared hard enough, and for no good reason Eli found himself beating back fear, "Come on. What's he gonna do, break your paddling arm?”

Logan froze, and Eli’s stomach dropped for a sick second before the kid shook it off and pushed him behind the canvas divider, saying “Just –I need to  _hide_ , asshole.” Loganmade to scramble after him, to swing into the shadow between the tarp and the wall, when the door swung wide again.

"I hear you were bothering your sister, son." Aaron Echoll’s voice was thinner in person, hollow as a bass line through a cheap set of speakers.Eli watched Logan's skinny shoulders hunch, then sag, and thought about how much he didn’t want to be there.

“She took Mom’s lighter,  _Dad.”_ From Logan’s lazy tone, he’d never have guessed the kid had been twitching with nerves thirty seconds before. “Can’t she toke up with something other than a family heirloom?”

“You took it, you little shit,” Aaron snarled, then seemed to calm himself, “Trina told me when she gave it back to me. I guess you need one of your own, huh?” The sudden friendliness of Aaron’s tone sent a chill up Eli’s spine, even before the guy jerked Logan’s wrist forward, turning him around and straightening out his arm. He brought a cheap green Bic lighter out of his pocket, and thumbed the striker. 

He would just – scare him, right? Logan’s breathing was the only sound in the shed as Aaron brought the lighter slowly, showily, up towards the crease of his elbow. Eli found himself gripping the harness until the edges dug into his palms. Fuck this. He tossed it into a stall, then stepped out in front of the divider.

“Hey, Mr. Echolls.” He watched the guy jerk forward, dropping his own kid like a shoplifted candy bar. The rage smoothed out of the familiar face, replaced by a meet-the-press smile. 

" _Hola_ , Eli!"

Jesus. Grandma Letty had made the house rules clear, though, and his own face was five-card-blank even as he saw Logan roll his eyes. "That's, uh, a nice lighter."

Aaron dropped his gaze to the Bic like he'd forgotten its existence, and even what Eli had just seen happen wasn't as creepy as that look of genuine surprise.

"Right! Like I was saying, son." He held it out and Logan stared at the lighter, a little green. "It's time you had one."

Logan just seemed to pull himself in smaller. Eli wouldn't be touching that thing either, if he had been smelling his own hair singe a second ago. He wasn’t thrilled about touching it now, but...he watched the manicured hand tighten on the plastic, and took a deep breath. "You know, Mr. Echolls, I've always wanted one of those." 

“Yeah,” Logan said, almost too quickly, and his dad frowned. “Eli should have it. For being such a good  _helper._ ” Eli couldn't help but grin. The kid bounced back fast.

"Well…I don’t see why not!” Exaggerated, jovial, he handed it over with a flourish and a cold aside to Logan: “I'll just take your mother’s back to her." Creep headed out the door, and there was a little silence. 

 _My dad..._ Eli swallowed the words unspoken. He'd seen his dad take a dog away from a man twice his size, for dragging it down the street by its too-heavy collar. He'd heard him come down on Hector and Gus and guys he didn't even  _know_ if they hurt one of the little kids running around, even by accident. His dad would storm into this shitty dollhouse and crumple Aaron Echolls like a sheet of paper, if he could tell him what he'd seen. 

But his dad was missing, two weeks now, and the lines around his mother's mouth got a little tighter every time someone asked when he was coming back. He thought of the second fiercest person he knew, and started over.

"You know, my Gran -"

"-wants to lose her job? Over something that's not gonna change?" Logan’s voice was steady now, dismissive. Eli rolled his eyes, opened his mouth to try again.   

“Lo-gan!” Mrs. Echolls - no lines on her face and she was always smiling but never still, she made him motion sick -came fluttering through the side yard, rummaging through her purse. "Have you seen my old lighter, darling? I need it for my clutch tonight and it was just in here, it can't - oh. hello, Eli."

Logan looked right at Eli and smirked. "Maybe the pool boy took it."

He didn’t bother sparring back, just glanced up at her shyly, pursing his mouth a little. More than one kid in this room could look like an altar boy. Especially since he'd actually lit the candles a couple of times. "Don't worry, ma’am." He flicked the new lighter through his fingers, tossed it up and caught it on the way down. "I've got one of my own."

 

_The old gold Zippo drops with a clatter out of Logan's nervous fingers and Weevil almost jumps, rolls his eyes at himself and headsfor the door. Past time to get out of here. He doesn't say goodbye, this isn't a tea party. There’s no need to stop for whatever shit would come out of that mouth next, even if it’s -_

_"You burn my fucking house down, Eli?"_

_Last he heard, Echolls was on the outs with Veronica; he wouldn't be wearing a wire. Probably. And he's never actually been scared of this guy, and he’s tired of lies. "Yeah, something like that." He opens the door, almost misses the mumble:_

_"I hated that house."_

_Weevil just nods, and keeps walking. He remembers._


End file.
